Yet in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subjected to you, but rejoice that your names are written in the heavens.
The seventy came back thrilled that even demons had obeyed them. The Lord did not deny the wonder of it, but He moved their joy off what they had done on earth and onto what God had done about them in heaven.
Their report was true, and the Lord read more in it than they did.
They spoke of the demons. He spoke of Satan. "I saw," He said, "Satan fall like lightning from heaven." The demons' obedience to His name guaranteed complete victory over all the power of the enemy. Men did not see that yet. It was like the cloud the size of a man's hand which Elijah's servant saw. That cloud grew until it covered the whole sky. In the same way, the enemy's power had begun to give way, and it would be wiped out completely. His final overthrow was certain.
The correction is about proportion, not about spoiling their gladness.
But the Lord showed them that their immature judgment had made them miss the true proportion of things. The endowments of grace far exceeded in value the equipment for service. Their names were written in heaven and not in the dust of the earth. Being enrolled for heavenly blessing was the right thing to rejoice in, rather than the power over unclean spirits handed to them.
Even at its best, power is not the highest joy on offer.
Power over evil is real now, and in the end it will display the full glory of God. Even so, it cannot be compared to the joy of His grace — the joy of seeing not only Satan turned out, but God brought in.
The phrase borrows a picture from everyday life.
The figure is a simple one. Our names are enrolled in the city or district where we live. The Lord said to these men, in effect: heavenly citizenship is to be yours. That is a greater cause of rejoicing than any power given on earth. Luke's Gospel gives us the change from law to grace and from earth to heaven. This verse is a clear landmark along the way.
The disciples were looking for a kingdom set up here on earth.
This was something entirely new for the disciples. They had no doubt believed in the resurrection of the dead. But they expected a portion on earth after being raised. Instead, the Lord points towards heaven. There God in His grace had written their names, to give them a portion with Christ Himself.
Notice who did the writing.
There was, however, something greater than this in which they could rejoice: their names were "written in heaven." … God had marked them out for a place in heaven. That is PREDESTINATION. God had marked them out for heavenly citizenship. It was His purpose before time began. They could not have written their names there. The names were already there — a truth never before made known to the sons of men.
The record is God's, not ours. Service cannot add to it, and failure cannot remove it.
And so it is with all true believers. Gifts, service and miracles can never touch this basic fact: they rest for themselves alone upon Christ and His work. … Paul was sure of his present and eternal security, for he knew whom he had believed. He did not rest one shred of his soul's salvation on his apostleship and ministry. As our Lord said to His disciples when they rejoiced that they could cast out demons, "rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
Scripture has another name for that record, and a reason why the entries stand.
Let us rejoice that our names are written in the "Lamb's book of life." Scripture never speaks of any name being erased from that book. The names are there because Jesus, God's Lamb, died. They will remain there to the eternal glory of God's blessed Son.
- Written by God — the seventy did not put their own names in heaven. God's purpose placed them there before time began.
- Written in grace — God's gift outweighs any power He hands out for the work.
- Written as citizens — a name on a register shows where a person belongs. Theirs says heaven, not earth.
- Written to stay — salvation rests on Christ and His work alone, not on gifts, service or miracles.
- Written, so rejoice — service can fail or mislead. The record in heaven never changes, so let joy rest there.
In the same hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I praise thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth, that thou hast hid these things from wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes yea, Father, for thus has it been well-pleasing in thy sight.
The seventy came back thrilled at the power they had been given. In that same hour Jesus Himself broke into joy — but over something else. He thanks the Father for a strange arrangement: truth hidden from the clever, handed to little children. And He calls it good.
Their gladness set off a deeper gladness in Him.
In that same hour — the hour when the seventy rejoiced — Jesus Himself rejoiced. He saw not only the coming fall of Satan, and with it the ruin of all his evil plans, but also the Father at work to establish all His own plans. At the base of those bright plans lay this: He Himself is to be fully revealed and known, and "babes", not the wise and clever of this world, are to receive that revelation.
Their joy and His joy were not the same.
The seventy had rejoiced in the power they were given. He, who had received all power, found His joy in the Father acting as He willed, and revealing things to babes. What a difference!
Israel had rejected Him and His works. His joy rises out of that rejection.
Here we learn the secret of the Son's joy. If there was sorrow over what His people Israel had done in rejecting Him and His works, He could still rejoice in the Father and in the Father's will. If Israel shut its door against Him, the Son saw the Father open another door for others to enter. In this there would be greater glory for the Father and greater joy for His heart. The wise and prudent of Israel, the leaders of the people, knew nothing of the Father's secret plans for the blessing of men. But those whom the great of the earth despised — the Lord's humble disciples — received from the Son this wonderful knowledge of the Father and of His purposes of eternal love.
The quotes below use older wording: "wise and prudent" for the wise and understanding, and "babes" for little children. The people passed over here are not the wicked but the clever. Their problem is the standard they use.
By the world's standards "the wise and prudent" were left in the dark, while babes — those who took a lowly place of submission — were shown what is of eternal, vital value. People who think of themselves as wise usually accept only what they can reason out. The sheer simplicity of what God offers His creatures trips them up. Meanwhile the unquestioning faith of babes accepts it and understands it without difficulty.
The hiding is not spite. It fits what human cleverness actually is.
Human wisdom failed. That was fitting, even necessary. How could it, low and earthly as it is, understand God's ways? These things were hidden, and hidden by the Lord of all from the wise and prudent. He puts man's wisdom in its place, its true moral place. But grace revealed them to the simple and modest — to the unsuspecting trust of the babe.
The reason lies in what grace is, not in any fitness in babes.
What men prize highly, God counts an abomination. He had revealed His mind to babes. This was clearly grace. There was no claim; and babes would have seemed the very last people to whom God would reveal what lay beyond the wise and prudent... And grace does not find objects fit for itself; it makes them, for God's glory. Grace creates; the law does not.
The name He uses in prayer is itself part of what He reveals.
Grace meets a ruined world once the law's order is set aside. Jesus, rejected by those who boasted of the law, rejoices in the grace of God and thanks Him as the Father — the One whom the law never revealed. He was Father in His own divine relationship to the Son, far beyond the knowledge of men or the reach of their thoughts and imagination... All through that time God was veiled, dwelling in thick darkness, not revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The title He adds widens the view beyond the earth.
Hopes are no longer limited to the earth. God is now looked to as Lord of heaven and earth — sovereign over all things.
(This comment is on the same words in Matthew's account.)
The closing clause is where His heart rests.
Knowing God means everything must be good to us, because it comes from Him. It may go strongly against our nature. Men's rejection of His message was of course painful to Jesus. It threw Him back on the sovereignty of God His Father, whom He knew.
So where does that pleasure come from?
It was His pleasure; He took delight in His own love.
- The hour — The praise comes in the hour of rejection. One door shuts on earth; the Son sees the Father open another.
- The joy — The seventy rejoiced in power; He rejoiced in the Father acting as He would. Their joy was real, His was deeper.
- The hidden — Truth is hidden from those who accept only what they can reason out. They stumble at how simple it is.
- The given — Babes had no claim, which is why they got everything. Grace does not find suitable objects; it makes them.
- The rest — "Such was your gracious will" is where He lands. The Father's pleasure, not the visible result, is what settles the heart.